Resilient coupler carriers



Sept. 24, 1957 H. WINTHER RESILIENT COUPLER CARRIERS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug. 30. 1954 x lllllilv- FIG. 5

6 G I F wgwww FIG. 7

Inve n to r: Howard Winth er MM his Attorney Sept. 24, 1957 H. WINTHER 2,807,375

RESiLIENT COUPLER CARRIERS Filed Aug. 30, 1954 2 SheetsSheet 2 Inventon. FIG. 2 Howard Winther his Attorney United States Patent RESILIENT COUPLER CARRIERS Application August 30, 1954, Serial No. 452,943

13 Claims. (Cl. 213- 61 This invention relates to resilient coupler carriers and has for its primary object the provision of an improved resilient coupler carrier which may be applied as a unit to the' striking casting or other part of the underframe of a railway vehicle by which it is supported.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved resilient coupler carrier seatable in a pocket in a striking casting and having a rockably mounted carrier iron whereby the carrier is enabled to maintain surface contact with the coupler throughout the range of downward angling of the latter without tilting of the supporting springs.

An additional object of the invention is to provide an improved resilient coupler carrier incorporating means for limiting the maximum height of the supporting springs whereby the necessity for retainer clips or like stop means on the associated supporting member for limiting movement of the carrier is eliminated and the carrier may be adjusted in height to accommodate for wear merely by shimming.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved resilient coupler carrier having telescoping parts containingthe supporting springs and so related to each other and to the associated supporting member as to protect the springs against over-solid blows and transmit such blows over a flat surface to the supporting member.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear hereinafter in the detailed description, be particularly pointed out in the appended claims, and be illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view of a striking casting and associated parts of the draft rigging of a railway vehicle, the view being taken along the lines 191 of Figure 3 and showing a typical application of a preferred embodiment of the resilient coupler carrier of the present invention;

Figure 2 is a view, partly in front elevation and partly in vertical section, of the structure of Figure 1 with the coupler and connected parts removed, the section 1 being taken along the lines 2-2 of Figure l; 1

Figure 3 is a view, partlyin plan and partly in horizontal section, of the structure of Figure 1, the section being taken along the lines 33 of Figure 2;

Figure. 4 is a fragmentary vertical sectional viewtaken along the lines 4-4 of Figure 1;

Figure 5 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view taken along the lines 5-5 of Figure 3.

Figure 6 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view taken along the same section as the corresponding portion of Figure 1', showing the relation between the parts of the coupler carrier and striking casting on downward angling of the coupler;

Figure 7 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view taken on the same section as Figure 5, with the several parts shown in the same relation as in Figure 6; and

Figure 8 is a bottom plan view of the carrier iron.

Referring now in detail to the drawings, in which like reference characters designate like parts, the improved resilient coupler carrier of the present invention is adapted for use with a coupler whose head is capable of vertical movement relative to the fixed underframe of a railway vehicle. It is particularly designed for a universally movable coupler, such as the A. A. R. alternate standard type F coupler and for illustrative purposes has been applied to such a coupler and the associated draft rigging.

The coupler 1 and yoke 2, both of which are shown only in part, are universally connected in the usual'manner by a pivot pin 3 and a pillow block 4, and the shank 5 of the coupler, forwardly of the yoke, extends through a substantially rectangular opening 6 in the striking casting 7. Defining the sides of the opening 6 are a pair of laterally or transversely spaced vertically directed or upstanding side walls 8 which are connected below the opening by longitudinally spaced vertically directed or upstanding front and rear walls, 9 and 10, respectively.

'The front, rear and side walls are connected at their lower extremities by a substantially flat, horizontally directed bottom wall or web 11 and these several walls together define or contain an upwardly opening pocket 12 within the striking casting 7.

Seated in the pocket 12 is the resilient coupler carrier of the present invention, designated as 13. In its preferred form the coupler carrier 13 is comprised of a couplersupporting or carrier member 14 having a top or upper wall 15, normally horizontally disposed and extending transversely of the striking casting 7. Below its top wall 15, the carrier member 14 is of substantially box-shape and has a downwardly opening recess, cavity or pocket 16 defined, longitudinally of the strikingcasting 7, by spaced front and rear Walls 17 and 18, and laterally, by spaced side walls 19 connecting the front and rear walls. These several walls all are vertically directed and downstanding from the top wall 15 and terminate at their lower extremities above the bottom wall 11 of the pocket 12. The side walls 19 are inset from the confronting side walls 8 of the pocket 12 to provide spaces 20 at either side of the carrier member 14. As will be noted, the front and rear walls 17 and 18 over their upper portions are substantially cote'rminous, transversely, with the top wall 15 and have skirts or extensions 21 which project laterally beyond the sidewalls 19, these skirts, together with the top wall 15, serving to guide the carrier member 14 between the walls of the pocket 12 in its movement relative thereto.

I Telescopingly related to the carrier member 14 and fitting or seating in the pocket 12 therebelow, is a retainer or closure member 22 which cooperates with the carrier member 14 to contain or retain in the downwardly opening pocket 16 yieldable means in the form of coil or like springs 23 by which the coupler carrier is made resilient. In its preferred form the retainer member 22 preferably is of substantially U-shape with a bottom substantially flat intermediate wall or web 24 resting on the bottom wall 11 of the pocket 12 and upstanding arms 25 at either side straddling and overlapping the side walls 19 of the carrier member 14. For interlocking the carrier member 14 and retainer member 22 to limit their maximum extension under force of the springs 23, the upper ends 26 of the arms 25' may be inturned or inbent to have lateral overlap with and engage laterally outturned or outstanding lugs 'or feet 27, each formed on one of the side walls 19 of the carrier member adjacent its lower extremity.

Normally spaced sufliciently. above the intermediate web 24 of the retainer member 22 to encompass the range of downward movement of the coupler 1, the carrier member 14, during such movement, itself moves downwardly relative to the retainer member 22, the arms 25 of the latter then occupying the spaces 20 at the side of the carrier member.

As will be understood, the retainer member 22 may be eithercast or fabricated, its arms 25,.if cast, being slidable horizontally into interlocking relation with the lugs 27 on the carrier member and, if fabricated, being bendable into that relation. If desired, the confronting faces of both the central web 24 of the retainer member 22 and the top wall 15 of the carrier member 14 may be provided with lugs 28 for positioning their respective extremities of the springs 23..

Since, while the springs 23 are placed under sufficient initial compression to support the coupler 1, their maximum extension is limited by the interlock between the carrier and retainer members, 14 and 22, it will be evident that these members with the contained springs may be inserted as a unit into the pocket 12 in the striking casting 7 and that the provision on the striking casting of the usual retainer clips or plates for limiting maximum height of the resilient coupler carrier is unnecessary. The elimination of the necessity for such retainer clips has the added advantage that any wear can readily be taken up merely by the insertion of a shim or shims 29, such as shown in Fig. 4, between the bottom wall 11 of the pocket 12 and the retainer member 22 to adjust correspondingly the relative height of the coupler carrier. To facilitate such adjustment, slots 30 are provided in the lower portions of the side walls 8 of the pocket 12 through which the shims may be applied and bent to hold them in place.

With the carrier member guided by the several walls of the pocket 12 so as to move substantially vertically under load, an important feature of the present invention is the means by which the coupler carrier at the same time is enabled to maintain surface contact with the.

shank of the coupler 1 during angling of the latter about a horizontal axis. This is here accomplished by surmounting the top wall 15 of the carrier member 14 by a carrier ironor bearing plate 31 having a substantially flat upper face 32 engageable with the coupler shank 5 and a cylindrically concave underface 33 bearing upon or interfitting with a coaxial cylindrically convex upper face of the top wall 15 of the carrier member 14, these cylindrical faces being designed to enable the carrier iron 31 to rock and thus maintain surface contact with the coupler shank during downward angling of the latter. To this end the common axis x-x of these faces is a noris disposed normal to the upper face 32 of the carrier iron 31 and parallel to the front wall 17 of the carrier member mally horizontal line disposed parallel to the normal axis of horizontal angling of the coupler 1 and thus extending transversely and normal to the side walls 8 of the striking casting 7. Relative to the carrier member 14 this axis preferably is disposed substantially midway between and parallel to its front and rear depending walls 17 and 18.

For holding the carrier iron 31 assembled with the car rier member 14 during installation of the coupler carrier 13 in the pocket 12, as well as to limit the extent of its rocking, rotative or angling movement relative to the carrier, there are provided on the carrier iron integral positioning fingers 35 projecting or extending below its cylindrical underface 33 and disposedto straddle or embrace the front and rear walls 17 and 18 of the carrier member 14. In the form shown, three such fingers are employed, one at the front and two at the back, the front finger being disposed centrally, laterally of the carrier member, and the back or rear fingers toward either side. It will be noted that the rear wall 18 of the carrier member 14 has its side portions 36, which confront the rear fingers, offset inwardly towards the front wall 17 so that the fingers serve, as well, to limit the transverse movement of and thus position or center the carrier iron 31 transversely relative to the carriermember 14.

The several fingers 35 also have their inner or carrier member-confronting faces so disposed as to limit the extent of rocking of the carrier iron 31 relative to the carrier 14 so that it has surface engagement with that wall in the normal or horizontal position of the carrier iron. The inner faces 38 of the rear fingers converge downwardly toward the confronting face 37 of the front finger at an angle of inclination from the vertical equal to the permissive downward angling of the coupler 1. Since this angle of inclination is less than that of a plane radial to the cylindrical underface 33 and intersecting it on the same line as do the faces 38, the rear fingers are enabled to have line contact at their lower extremities with the rear wall 18 of the carrier member 14 without interfering with the rocking of the carrier iron to its opposite limit, thus further aiding in positioning the carrier iron on the carrier member. The upper edge of the front wall 9 of the pocket 12 is spaced vertically below the corresponding edge of the rear wall 10 and both are inclined forwardly to accommodatethe range of relative movement of the carrier iron 31. To this usual constructionthere is here added recessing of the front and rear walls, as at 39, to accommodate the fingers 35, as well, throughout their range of movement.

It hasbeen mentioned that the skirts 21 and top wall 15 of the carrier member 14 serve as lateral guides in the.

vertical movement of the carrier member 14 and iron 31 as the coupler swings downwardly from its normal horizontal position shown in Figure 1. Since the parallelism of the axis of rocking xx of the carrier iron 31 with the axis of vertical angling of the coupler will not be maintained as the coupler swings laterally out of its normal or centered position relative to the striking casting, sufficient clearance is provided between the lateral extremities of the carrier and the side walls 8 of the pocket 12 to permit limited angling of the carrier member and thus the carrier iron transversely of thestriking casting. With this limited transverse angling added to the rockability of the carrier iron on the carrier member, the can rier iron is made capable of limited universal movement and thus of maintaining surface contact with the shank 5 of the coupler 1 throughout the entire range of move ment of the coupler in or below its normal horizontal mid-plane. Contact with the coupler in its movement above this mid-plane is neither required nor provided for since the coupler is then supported by another medium, generally the mating coupler.

As a comparison between Figures 1 and 6 or 5 and 7 shows, the coupler 1 is resiliently supported throughout its range of movement below its horizontal mid-plane. In the conventional coupler carrier for type F couplers any excessive movement which would otherwise drive the supporting springs solid, is transmitted to the striking casting by contact of the then forwardly tilted carrier iron with the upper edges of the front and rear walls 9 and 10 of the pocket 12. Here the bottom walls 11. and 24 of the pocket and the retainer member 22 respectively, are flat and horizontal and there is less vertical spacing between the bottom surface .40 of the carrier member 14 and the bottom wall 24 of the retainer member than between the carrier iron 31 and the front and rear walls 9 and 10 of the pocket. Consequently, when the coupler carrier goes solid it bears against a flat surface with corresponding reduction in the possibility of damage.

From the above detailed description it will be apparent that there has been provided an improved resilient coupler carrier which is capable of maintaining surface contact with the shank of a universally movable coupler, is able to be applied as a unit to a striking casting or like member by which it is supported, has self-contained means for limiting the maximum height of the carrier iron, thus permitting adjustment in height to accommodate for wear merely by shimming, and effectively protects the supporting springs from excessive forces and by transmitting such forces to the supporting member atoms througha flat surface, protects itself and the supporting member against damage. It should be understood that the described and disclosed embodiment is merely exemplary of the invention and that all modifications are intended to be included which do not depart either from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the appended claims.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. The combination with 'a striking casting having a pocket, of a resilient coupler carrier insertible as a unit in said pocket, said carrier comprising a carrier member, spring means in and resiliently supporting said carrier member, retaining means for containing said spring means in said carrier member, means fixed to said carrier memher and interlockable with means fixed to said retaining means for limiting relative vertical movement between said carrier member and retaining means, and means rockably mounted on said carrier member for engag ment with a shank of an associated coupler.

2. A resilient coupler carrier assembly comprising la carrier member, a unitary retaining member telescopingly related to said carrier member, means on and interlocking said members for limited relative vertical movement therebetween, spring means contained between and acting oppositely on said members, and a carrier iron rockably mounted on said carrier member for maintaining surface contact with a shank of an associated coupler during downward angling thereof.

3. A resilient coupler carrier assembly for railway vehicles comprising coupler supporting means, unitary retaining means, means fixed to each of and interlocking said supporting and retaining means for limited relative vertical movement therebetween, and spring means acting and contained between said supporting and retaining means and yieldably supporting said supporting means on said retaining means, said iterlocking means enabling said carrier to be assembled and :applied as a unit to a railway vehicle.

4. The combination with a striking casting having a pocket, of a resilient coupler carrier seated in said pocket, said carrier comprising a carrier member having a downwtardly opening pocket, a retainer member underlying and interlocked by means rigid with each of said members for limited relative vertical movement with said carrier member spring means acting vertically between said carrier and retainer members and retained by said retainer member in said pocket, and a carrier iron surmounting said carrier member and rockable relative thereto about a normally horizontal axis disposed transversely of said striking casting for surface contact with a shank of an associated coupler.

5. The combination with a striking casting having a pocket, of a resilient coupler carrier seated in said pocket, said carrier comprising a resiliently supported carrier member, a carrier iron member surmounting said carrier member, a cylindrically concave face on one of said members and having an axis disposed transversely of said striking casting, and a cylindrically convex face on said other member and coaxial and interfitting with said face of one member, said carrier iron through said faces being rockable on said carrier member in correspondence with the downward angling of a shank of an associated coupler for maintaining surface contact therewith.

6. The combination with a striking casting having a pocket, of a resilient coupler carrier seated in said pocket, said carrier comprising a resiliently supported carrier member, a carrier iron member surmounting said carrier member, a cylindrically concave face on one of said members and having an axis disposed transversely of said striking casting, a cylindrically convex face on said other member and interfitting and coaxial with said concave face on one member for relative rocking therebetween, and means on said carrier iron member for limiting the extent of said rocking.

, 7. The combination with a striking casting having a pocket, of a resilient coupler carrier seatedtin said pocket, said carrier comprising a resiliently supported carrier member, a carrier iron member surmounting said carrier member, a cylindrically concave face on one of said members and having an axis disposed transversely of said striking casting, a cylindrically convex face on said other member and interfitting and coaxial with said concave face on said one member for relative rocking therebetween, and means on said carrier iron member and maintaining constant contact with said carrier member for determining the extent of said rocking movement.

8. The combination with a striking casting having a pocket, of a resilient coupler carrier seated in said pocket, said carrier comprising a resiliently supported carrier member, a carrier iron member surmounting said carrier member, a cylindi'cally con-cave face on one of said members and having a normally horizontal axis disposed transversely of said striking casting, a cylindrically convex face on said other member and interfitting and coaxial with said concave face on said one member for relative rocking therebetween, and means downstanding from said carrier iron member and embracing and having faces confronting longitudinally spaced faces of said carrier member, certain of said faces on said downstanding means being longitudinally spaced and downwardly convergent and each of said last-named faces having sur- (face contact with the confronting face on said carrier member at and determining one of the limits of relative rocking of said members.

9. The combination with a striking casting having a pocket, of a resilient coupler carrier seated in said pocket, said carrier comprising a resiliently supported carrier member, a carrier iron member surmounting said carrier member, a cylindically concave face on one of said members and having a normally horizontal axis disposed transversely of said striking casting, a cylindrically convex face on said other member and interfitting and coaxial with said concave face on said one member for relative rocking therebetween, and finger means downstanding from said carrier iron member and embracing said carrier member for centering said carrier iron member on said carrier member and limiting the relative rocking of said members.

10. The combination with a striking casting having a pocket, of a resilient coupler carrier comprising a carrier member in said pocket, yieldable means in said pocket and acting on said carrier member for urging said carrier member vertically relative thereto, means on lateral extremities of such carrier member engageable with com fronting surfaces of said pocket for guiding said carrier member in said relative vertical movement, said guiding means being spaced from said confronting faces for limited vertical angling of said carrier member in a transverse direction, and a carrier iron member having surface contact with and rockably mounted on said carrier member and rockable thereon about an axis subtially normal to said direction of angling, said angling of said carrier member and rockable mounting of said carrier iron member enabling said carrier iron member to maintain surface contact with a shank of an associated coupler during downward angling movement thereof.

11. In a combined striking casting and coupler carrier the combination of a pocket in said striking casting and having a flat bottom wall, a carrier member in said pocket, a retaining member in said pocket and having a fiat bottom wall supported on said bottom Wall of said pocket, spring means between and acting oppositely on said members, means interlocking said members for limited relative Vertial movement therebetween, and coupl-er engaging means carried by said carrier member, said coupler engaging means overlying front and rear walls of said pocket and being spaced thereabove a distance greater than the vertical spacing between said carrier member and said bottom wall of said retainermember whereby excessive forces on said coupler carrier will 1 be transmitted to said striking casting through said fiat bottom Walls. I a

tween and acting oppositely on said members, means on and interlocking said members for limited relative vertical movement therebetween, and means consisting of shims interposable between said retainer means and a bottom wall of said pocket for adjusting the height of said coupler carrier relative to said bottom wall without varying; said limited relative vertical movement between said carrier and retainer members.

13. A coupler carrier comprising a carrier member for supporting a shank of a coupler, a carrier iron member snrmounting said carrier member, and interfitting, substantially coaxial cylindrial surfaces extending axially transversely of said coupler, said carrier iron member through said surfaces being rockable on said carrier member in correspondence with the downward angling of said shank for maintaining surface contact therewith.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,419,508 Neikirk June 13, 1922 1,878,032 Van Dorn Sept. 20, 1932 1,983,616 Kinne Dec. 11, 1934 2,271,907 Wilson Feb. 3, 1942 2,515,964 Metzger 1 July 18,1950 2,676,713 Blattner Apr. 27, 1954 

